Claire Enders on the continuing power of the press

There was an interesting debate last week, in the wake of the Leveson Report, about the irelevance of the printed press in the age of the network society. It’s a topic I hear a lot among a few or our undergraduates who argue that “everyone is getting their news from Twitter”. Of all the words spoken about this last week, I thought Claire Enders articulated the opposite on Newsnight brilliantly :

The internet has a place and a role but actually the information it provides has a much greater reach if its on the newstands across the country; if its in every supermarket, in every every newsagent … Still there are 23 million people who are reading a physical newspaper everyday and that newspaper websites do comprise seven of the top 10 websites in this country … So I dispute — absolutely — the fact that the internet has the same reach and power of the printed press. Lord Leveson is not saying that the internet has now power , as we all know is false. In fact it has enormous reach, but it has a different impact on reputation here in the UK.

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I agree with Claire Enders. If your undergraduates are getting their news from Twitter, then I fear for the next generation of journalists. You don’t get the deepest analysis in 140 characters. The papers as just as relevant now, even though we do have other sources. For example, if you want to read about American politics, you have to read the Washington post. Yahoo’s news service isn’t going to give you that level of detail.